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Get to know all the players that will represent Vietnam at the Women’s World Cup this summer.
Goalkeepers
Tran Thi Kim Thanh
Date of Birth: 18/09/1993
Club: Ho Chi Minh City FC
Kim Thanh is only 1.65m tall. She has to jump nearly 1m high to reach the crossbar, but her short stature did not stop her from becoming the goalkeeper with the most saves in the 2022 Women's Asian Cup. "Don't let your parents down," is what Kim Thanh has been telling herself throughout her career. One of three children, with her father being a bricklayer and her mother taking odd jobs, Kim Thanh's dad didn't let her pursue a career in football to begin with, because he was more concerned about how he would make enough money to send all of his three kids to school. But her talent shone through regardless and now Kim Thanh is at a World Cup.
Khong Thi Hang
Date of Birth: 10/10/1993
Club: Than Khoang San Viet Nam Women's Football Club
Before becoming the national team’s second goalkeeper, Khong Thi Hang used to be an excellent long jumper and even won a silver medal at a national tournament. During high school, she stood out as a volleyball star in Vinh Phuc province. "She was only in 10th grade but she had the cool demeanour of an adult," was how Hang's former teacher described her. Hang joined the first team at her club aged 18 and only needed a year to be selected for the national team.
Dao Thi Kieu Oanh
Date of Birth: 25/01/2003
Club: Ha Noi FC
In the Vietnam women’s team, there exists a strange tradition regarding the magical letter K. The team's goalkeepers up until now have always had a K in their names, such as Nguyen Thi Kim Hong, Dang Thi Kieu Trinh or Tran Thi Kim Thanh. And that's why many people have high expectations for Dao Thi Kieu Oanh. She is currently the first-choice goalkeeper of Ha Noi FC, the second strongest team in Vietnam and appears to be another talented goalkeeper to look out for.
Defenders
Chuong Thi Kieu
Date of Birth: 19/05/1995
Club: Ho Chi Minh City FC
In August 2022, Chuong Thi Kieu underwent the surgery of a lifetime, which was exceedingly rare perhaps even in the history of world football. The surgery was performed on both knees to repair ACL injuries at the same time, and took 15 hours. The leader in Vietnam’s defence has since needed another nine months to recover but has been deemed fit to play at the World Cup. She sustained these injuries at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games but could only undergo surgery in 2022. If it wasn't for the operation, she would have had to retire.
Tran Thi Thu Thao
Date of Birth: 15/01/1993
Club: Ho Chi Minh City FC
Thu Thao's situation is rare given that her sister also plays for the national team. And what's even more special is that she is her twin. However, since Phuong Thao is not at the tournament, Thu Thao says she will go to the Women's World Cup "on behalf of her family". Thu Thao is a versatile player and has been deployed in various positions, including as a midfielder and defender and is expected to be a very useful utility player for Vietnam.
Tran Thi Thu
Date of Birth: 15/01/1991
Club: Ho Chi Minh City FC
Thi Thu was given the affectionate nickname "Silent Hero" by the fans. At the age of 32, at a time when many of her former teammates have retired, Thu still silently contributes to the national team as a regular substitute. On eve of the 2023 World Cup she says the "Vietnam women's team will be able to play against strong opponents so that we can constantly improve – even during matches against World Cup powerhouses”.
Hoang Thi Loan
Date of Birth: 06/02/1995
Club: Ha Noi FC
Loan was the first real star in the history of Vietnamese women's football. She was a trailblazing female player who became as popular as the male players. She has more than 250,000 followers on Facebook and triple that number on TikTok. She can be found on advertising hoardings, promoting various brands, thus creating a new path for female players who can see a way to bridge the financial gap that exists between them and their male counterparts. She was one of three national team players to appear on the cover of fashion magazine Dep under the heading “Wonder Women”. A talented full-back she loves to race up the left wing.
Tran Thi Hai Linh
Date of Birth: 08/06/2001
Club: Ha Noi FC
Born in 2001, she is the youngest defender to be selected for the World Cup by the experienced coach, Mai Duc Chung. She can play as a central defender or in midfield but she is being trained to play at the back, thanks to her calm demeanour, ball control skills and canny match-reading ability. At the age of 22, Hai Linh has a lot of time to grow and is sure to soon play a more important role in the team. She says: "When I joined the national team, I found myself up against bigger and stronger opponents … especially in physical situations when shoulders collide with each other. I'm trying harder, building more muscles, using more supplements."
Le Thi Diem My
Date of Birth: 23/08/1996
Club: Than Khoang San Viet Nam Women's Football Club
Many teams would love to have a two-footed centre-back and Diem My is one of those rare and precious players. It is why she has been selected in the squad for a number of years now. She has not had as many opportunities to start as she would have liked, with established stars such as Chuong Thi Kieu and Tran Thi Hong Nhung ahead of her. She is, however, a very useful option off the bench, thanks to her ability to play on the left or right and her simple, effective playing style. She also has impressive stamina.
Luong Thi Thu Thuong
Date of Birth: 01/05/2000
Club: Than Khoang San Viet Nam Women's Football Club
"My biggest regret taking this path is not being able to be with and take care of my family," the 23-year-old says. Unlike in Europe, young female footballers are taken away to more isolated training centres and Thu Thuong admits to having found this hard. They are away from their families from primary school age. There they will study, live and train in a secluded environment. At 10 years old, Thu Thuong only got to see her family a few weeks per year. The situation, however, helped this quiet girl develop her mental strength and bravery.
Nguyen Thị My Anh
Date of Birth: 27/11/1994
In Vietnam, player transfers between clubs is a rarity, as football is governed as a "state agency". Therefore, My Anh's case in 2022 was a very special one in which she and Ho Chi Minh City FC took each other to court because of her contract. My Anh won and was transferred to Thai Nguyen Football Club, receiving a higher salary and other payments. More importantly, My Anh has changed Vietnam's female player transfer market, and her deal is reminiscent of Jean-Marc Bosman’s in Europe.
Tran Thi Thuy Nga
Date of Birth: 02/11/1994
Club: Thai Nguyen FC
In the 32nd South East Asian Games final Thuy Nga had to leave the field because of an injury. Her teammates went on to beat Myanmar 2-0, and later as they celebrated winning gold, Thuy Nga came out to join them, limping around in pain. Nobody was able to find any crutches, so they had to take it in turns to help Thuy Nga gingerly move from the tunnel to the podium. Despite everything, Thuy Nga still smiled, showing her resilience on a famous day. She is the symbol of what Vietnam’s women’s team want to bring to the World Cup in New Zealand and Australia: a sense of an absolute never-giving-up attitude.
Midfielders
Nguyen Thị Tuyet Dung
Date of Birth: 13/12/1993
Club: Phong Phu Ha Nam
Has any international superstar ever scored twice from a corner and with two different feet in the same match? Well, that's what Tuyet Dung did against Malaysia at the 2015 South East Asian Games. Those two-footed deliveries are what Tuyet Dung has repeated over and over again throughout her career, making her famous over the years. "If you're right-footed, you practise shooting with the right foot 10 times but 20 times with the left foot," she says, explaining the training philosophy that has made her extraordinary. She joins Huynh Nhu as one of Vietnam's two great hopes as they march on to the World Cup stage for the first time ever.
Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy
Date of Birth: 01/05/1994
Club: Ho Chi Minh City FC
Bich Thuy has been a bit unlucky when it comes to big tournaments. She was 28 when she finally competed in her first major competition, the Asian Cup, but she almost missed out when she was among 14 Vietnamese female players infected with Covid-19 right before the tournament started in January. She earned her first appearance only in the third match, against Myanmar. Since then, Thuy has played regularly and shone brightly. She was the player who scored the decisive goal against Taiwan in the last play-off, taking Vietnam to the World Cup, a strike she called "the most memorable of my entire career".
Tran Thiị Thuy Trang
Date of Birth: 08/08/1988
Club: Ho Chi Minh City FC
Not many people know that Thuy Trang was first called up to the Vietnam national team for … futsal. In fact the midfielder born in the 1980s began to pursue a football career only after she graduated from university. But that slow start could not stop Thuy Trang from quickly earning herself a place in the starting lineup of the national football team. "Trang is often called ‘Miss Buzz’ because of her fierce and annoying playing style in which she keeps getting up and clinging to her opponent even after being knocked down," says Mai Ba Hung, the former Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City department of culture and sports.
Ngan Thi Van Su
Date of Birth: 29/04/2001
Club: Ha Noi FC
"That's my sister," Ngan Van Dai laughed out loud when asked about Van Su, his younger friend who shares the same Thai roots as him. They both come from an ethnic minority, both from Thanh Hoa, both played for Ha Noi FC and are members of Vietnam's national teams, one in the men's team and the other in the women's. Van Su is young but she's not unexperienced as she won Vietnam's best young player in 2020. "Youthful but steady, aggressive but still smart, and most importantly, she will never stop learning," is how Vietnam’s Under-19 coach, Ijiri Akira, described her.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Nha
Date of Birth: 25/09/2001
Club: Ha Noi FC
In the countryside of Thuong Tin (formerly known as Ha Tay), there lived a man named Duong Khac Kiem. He was not a trained coach and his training sessions did not take place at a football centre, either. He had no funds, very few facilities and no one paid him for what he did. He was just an ordinary farmer with a burning passion for football, so he wandered to every corner of the countryside to scout players to make a team. And in that humble football upbringing so many future stars have been nurtured, among them Thanh Nha, who is also becoming somewhat of a social media star in Vietnam.
Thai Thi Thao
Date of Birth: 12/02/1995
Club: Ha Noi FC
Duong Thi Van
20/09/1994
Club: Than Khoang San Viet Nam Women's Football Club
Try asking Thailand players who they are most afraid of and it’s highly likely most will say the name: Duong Thi Van. In the opening match of the 2019 South East Asian Games, she scored to earn a 1-1 draw with Thailand. In the 31st SEA Games final, she continued to torment Thailand players as she won back possession and then set up Huynh Nhu to score the only goal of the match. "She's small but can run tirelessly, everything on the field goes through Van's feet," said the former player Do Thi Ngoc Cham. The journalist Nguyen Nguyen said: "Many people think Huynh Nhu is the best in Vietnam’s women's team but in that final it was Duong Thi Van who excelled the most."
Strikers
Pham Hai Yen
Date of Birth: 09/11/1994
Club: Ha Noi FC
To achieve glory, sometimes you have to sacrifice your personal life. In March 2022, Hai Yen posted a picture on Facebook in which she was radiantly receiving her university degree, which she had earned six months prior but had no time to collect. In that half-year, Hai Yen shone brightly for Vietnam, scoring eight goals in the 2022 Asian Cup qualifiers. In the course of two years she had been voted the nation’s second-best player twice, winning two Silver Balls. The highlight in Hai Yen's career came in the 2019 SEA Games final where she scored the only goal of the match as Vietnam saw off Thailand to win the title.
Vu Thi Hoa
Date of Birth: 06/11/2003
Club: Ha Noi FC
There was widespread shock when Vu Thi Hoa became the V.League’s top scorer in 2022. Hoa started the season as an unknown 19-year-old but went on to score eight goals. Those goals earned her an entry ticket into the national team set-up, where she soon earned a regular place in the squad, mainly operating from the bench. She was also named Vietnam's best young player. The national team coach, Mai Duc Chung, has high hopes for the striker. "Hoa is sure to follow in Huynh Nhu and Hai Yen's footsteps," he said.
Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang
Date of Birth: 19/11/1997
Club: Than Khoang San Viet Nam Women's Football Club
In a team full of technical attacking players, Thuy Hang stands out as a completely different type of forward. She is incredibly strong and superb in one-v-one duels. But although Thuy Hang has played very well at club level, she is yet to repeat this form on the international stage. Critics have said she needs to work on her mobility and decision-making if she is to fulfil her rich potential.
Huynh Nhu
Date of Birth: 28/11/1991
Club: Ho Chi Minh City FC
Despite having won countless titles with the national team, Huynh Nhu is most famous for being the first Vietnamese female player to play in Europe (Portugal). She is also the most successful Vietnamese player abroad in history while dozens of her male colleagues have failed to prove themselves in both Asia and Europe. In her first season for Länk FC, she scored seven goals, creating a stir not only because of her football but with her traditional Vietnamese dress, Ao Dai, and the Vietnamese food that she shared with her teammates. How refreshing that a nation’s football trailblazer in Europe is a woman instead of a man.
Written by Minh Chien Tu (Zing) for The Guardian
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